Wednesday, September 28, 2005

Representative Adam SchiffUnited States House of Representatives326 Cannon House Office BuildingWashington, DC 20515-0001

Dear Representative Schiff,

As of today, 28 September, there have been 1,929 American troop deaths and a total of 2,124 coalition troop deaths in the war in Iraq, which we entered without accurate information regarding the threat that Saddam presented.

You will probably recall reading or hearing that journalist Helen Thomas said of President Bush "I have never covered a president who actually wanted to go to war."

It's significant that, on the day when Hurricane Rita made landfall, 24 September, the turnout for the March on Washington that same day was three times the expected number of 100,000. Even though the nation's attention was on the plight of the victims of the hurricane, the American people were still concerned enough about the crime of falsifying information to justify going to war that they showed up to protest in unexpected numbers.

Like them, I join in the demand that Congress take action to hold George W. Bush, and those who conspired with him, accountable for high crimes and misdemeanors and to introduce Articles of Impeachment.

(Submitted through an easy-to-use form on the ImpeachBush.org website.)

Saturday, September 24, 2005

I think it's significant that the CNN website doesn't mention the war protest in Washington once. Not one link to a story under Politics or US or Developing Stories or any other section [as of about 12:30pm EDT, 9:30am PDT].

Yes site visitors are more interested in Rita coverage. However, "news" also includes the important less-popular stories.

How many TV minutes have been spent on the war protest? Your coverage of Rita has been great and shows your willingness to put yourself in harm's way to give us a clear picture of Rita's power.

However, the war protest in Washington is an important expression of the growing disaffection in the U.S. with the administration, and the protest shouldn't be blown away too by Rita.

CNN SHOULD COVER THE WAR PROTEST IN WASHINGTON.

It doesn't produce the dramatic footage that Rita does, but in terms of casualties, isn't it on par?

Friday, September 23, 2005

Kristinn Taylor is a he?? Who knew? I really did think he was a perky co-ed.

Apparently he's a graduate of Dubya University's Rove School of Conservative Whitenoise. The last time I heard from him, he called Cindy Sheehan's vigil a publicity stunt. This time around, he's saying

We made a vow after Sept. 11 that we would not allow the anti-American left to do to us this time what they did during Vietnam, which was wear down the morale of the American.

What a great guy, huh? He's looking out for you.

"Anti-American left." Amazing. People on the left are ardently trying to bring the U.S. back to a place where it isn't considered a unilateral bully by the rest of the world, and that's anti-American. People on the left care so much about what's happening in the country with the shifting economic and social priorities that they're protesting like they haven't in years, and that's anti-American. How can they be anti-American if they're so emotionally involved with America?

If the dictionary definition of "American" is actually "getting rich quick and paying no taxes," then, well, yeah I guess they are sort of anti-American. I remember thinking during Schwarzenegger's speech at the GOP convention that the term "hard work" was actually a euphemism for "wealth," getting as much as you can and keeping what you get. Who in the entire party actually honors hard work just for itself? But that is the underlying agenda, isn't it—getting as much as you can and keeping what you get and not having to share it with anyone else because, well, you earned it. Underneath it all, underneath all the smoke and whitenoise and powdered wigs and flags, that's the track that guides the elephant's circus train. Rich rich rich get rich rich rich get rich rich rich get rich rich rich get rich rich rich...

Hey, Republikids, I've got a guessing game for you! Wanna play? Okay. I'll give you a Bible verse, and you tell me the reference. Book, chapter and verse. Okay? Are you ready? Here we go. "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth where moth and rust doth corrupt, where thieves break through and steal." All right, who can tell me where that verse is found?

Anybody?

You don't just rattle off that reference from memory? How come? Because that verse isn't as important as those verses in Leviticus? Okay, I've got another one for you. Who was it who said "For ye are not under the law, but under grace"?

Anybody?

You Republikids sure know your Bible well. Anyway, if we're no longer under Old Testament law, why are the Leviticus verses more important than the verse in Matthew—drat! I let it slip. Anybody know? I'll tell you. Because you selectively believe. If you didn't believe selectively, your mom wouldn't be driving that really cool SUV because it would be out of your parents' price range. Bummer, huh?

Anyway, Kristinn, keep up the good work with the whitenoise! Doin' a great job! You're on your way to becoming a major player!

Tuesday, September 13, 2005

MoveOn.org is gathering signatures on a petition in support of a Katrina Commission. They will begin delivering the signatures and comments to Congress the morning after Bush addresses the nation on Thursday night.

Monday, September 12, 2005

I-10 in Los Angeles on 15 December 2003. See more images at Freewayblogger.comThe signs read "485 dead, 2,779 seriously wounded, 3,264 blood-soaked uniforms, and we impeached Clinton over one lousy dress."

ImpeachBush.org is organizing a contingent for the anti-war March on Washington on September 24. Click on the T-shirt to learn more.

Saturday, September 10, 2005

My gay partner and I have been "married" for fourteen years. We mark our "anniversary" date as June 9. Unfortunately, I've been covered by his health insurance as a domestic partner for only the last couple of years. Had we been officially married, would I have had to wait that long for coverage?

I urge you not to veto the marriage equality legislation. I understand that you have been quoted as saying that same-sex marriage is "fine by me" in the past. Why the change on this issue? The fact that both the Senate and the Assembly have passed this legislation is a strong indicator of what the will of the people of California is regarding this issue in 2005.

Friday, September 09, 2005

The AfterDowningStreet.org website lists you among those holding out from co-sponsoring H. Res. 375, a resolution of inquiry requiring the White House and the State Department to "transmit all information relating to communication with officials of the United Kingdom between January 1, 2002, and October 16, 2002, relating to the policy of the United States with respect to Iraq."

I can see no real reason for not requiring disclosure of communication between UK and US officials within this timeframe, and I urge you to support this resolution by 14 September.

As you will recall, in February 2002, Senator Bob Graham was told "We have stopped fighting the war on terror in Afghanistan. We are moving military and intelligence personnel and resources out of Afghanistan to get ready for a future war in Iraq." From June 2002 to March 2003, "Allies flew 21,736 sorties over southern Iraq, attacking 349 carefully selected targets" before war was even declared on 30 March 2003. In July 2002, appropriations for the war in Afghanistan were diverted to prepare for the invasion of Iraq, and Congress was not informed of this. I believe these pieces of information (and many more are available at AfterDowningStreet.org) are enough to indicate what the Administration's policy was regarding Iraq between 1 January and 16 October 2002.

The more I learn, the less I want to know. MoveOn.org sent out an emailing today:

Ten days after Hurricane Katrina, the city of New Orleans is still mostly underwater and hundreds of thousands of people are homeless, yet NBC Nightly News reported last night that FEMA's portable housing remains hundreds of miles away unused. It is now obvious that the federal response to Hurricane Katrina is a national scandal that requires a proper investigation. But Republicans in Congress have proposed an investigation that would be run by them. Democrats are insisting on an independent commission with its own independent investigators and subpoena authority—modeled after the 9/11 Commission.

So far the media isn't exposing that the Republican leadership is trying to cover over the Bush administration's failure to keep us safe. We need to make sure the media get on the case. One easy way to do that is on the Letters to the Editor page of newspapers. We've set up an online tool that makes submitting a letter easy. You write your letter, choose where you want it to go, and click to send. Will you write a letter to the editor? Click below to get started.

Your letter will be very timely. New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton is introducing legislation that would establish the independent Katrina Commission. According to Sen. Clinton's website: "The Katrina Commission would be charged with providing a comprehensive and unbiased evaluation of what could and should have been done to avoid the extraordinary damage, the loss of life, the evacuation problems and the inadequate relief efforts that have exacerbated the dislocation and suffering of thousands of Americans affected by Hurricane Katrina."

But while Sen. Clinton's proposal is exactly what we need to do, many in the media are reporting on this as a squabble between Democrats and Republicans. Your letter can send a signal to the media that the public wants an independent commission modeled after the 9/11 Commission that is widely respected and viewed as the right way to look into failures by our government. Please write a letter today.

This wouldn't be the first time the Republicans tried to stack the deck in an investigation. After September 11, they tried to push a phony investigation and only after 9/11 widows insisted on an independent investigation did they pass legislation to establish the 9/11 Commission.

The heads of that commission are now speaking openly about the failures they saw during Katrina. We need those independent voices.

We need to insist the media reports this right by making it clear that people want an independent commission much like the 9/11 Commission—a Katrina Commission.

Please write a letter today. Thanks for all you do.

—Tom, Justin, Wes, Micayla and the MoveOn.org Political Action TeamFriday, September 9th, 2005